The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for applying texture material to an interior surface such as a wall or ceiling. In particular, buildings are typically constructed with a wood or metal framework. To form interior wall and ceiling surfaces, drywall material is attached to the framework. Typically, at least one primer layer and at least one paint layer is applied to the surface of the drywall material to form a finished wall surface.
For aesthetic and other reasons, a bumpy or irregular texture layer is often formed on the drywall material after the drywall material has been primed and before it has been painted. The appearance of the texture layer can take a number of patterns. As its name suggests, an “orange peel” texture pattern generally has the appearance of the surface of an orange and is formed by a spray of relatively small droplets of texture material applied in a dense, overlapping pattern. A “splatter” texture pattern is formed by larger, more spaced out droplets of texture material. A “knockdown” texture patter is formed by spraying texture material in larger droplets (like a “splatter” texture pattern) and then lightly working the surfaces of the applied droplets with a knife or scraper so that the highest points of the applied droplets are flattened. In some situations, a visible aggregate material such as polystyrene chips is added to the texture material to form what is commonly referred to as an “acoustic” or “popcorn” texture pattern. The principles of the present invention are of primary significance when applied to a texture material without visible aggregate material.
For larger applications, such as a whole room or structure, the texture layer is typically initially formed using a commercial texture sprayer. Commercial texture sprayers typically comprise a spray gun, a hopper or other source of texture material, and a source of pressurized air. The texture material is mixed with a stream of pressurized air within the texture gun, and the stream of pressurized air carries the texture material in droplets onto the target surface to be textured. Commercial texture sprayers contain numerous points of adjustment (e.g., amount of texture material, pressure of pressurized air, size of outlet opening, etc.) and thus allow precise control of the texture pattern and facilitate the quick application of texture material to large surface areas. However, commercial texture sprayers are expensive and can be difficult to set up, operate, and clean up, especially for small jobs where overspray may be a problem.
For smaller jobs and repairs, especially those performed by non-professionals, a number of “do-it-yourself” (DIY) products for applying texture material are currently available in the market. Perhaps the most common type of DIY texturing products includes aerosol systems that contain texture material and a propellant. Aerosol systems typically include a container, a valve, and an actuator. The container contains the texture material and propellant under pressure. The valve is mounted to the container selectively to allow the pressurized propellant to force the texture material out of the container. The actuator defines an outlet opening, and, when the actuator is depressed to place the valve in an open configuration, the pressurized propellant forces the texture material out of the outlet opening in a spray. The spray typically approximates only one texture pattern, so it was difficult to match a variety of perhaps unknown preexisting texture patterns with original aerosol texturing products.
A relatively crude work around for using an aerosol texturing system to apply more than one texture pattern is to reduce the pressure of the propellant material within the container prior to operating the valve. In particular, when maintained under pressure within the container, typical propellant materials exist in both a gas phase and in a liquid phase. The propellant material in the liquid phase is mixed with the texture material, and the texture material in the gas state pressurizes the mixture of texture material and liquid propellant material. When the container is held upright, the liquid contents of the container are at the bottom of the container chamber, while the gas contents of the container collect at the top of the container chamber. A dip tube extends from the valve to the bottom of the container chamber to allow the propellant in the gas phase to force the texture material up from the bottom of the container chamber and out of the outlet opening when the valve is opened. To increase the size of the droplets sprayed out of the aerosol system, the container can be inverted, the valve opened, and the gas phase propellant material allowed to flow out of the aerosol system, reducing pressure within the container chamber. The container is then returned upright and the valve operated again before the pressure of the propellant recovers such that the liquid contents are forced out in a coarser texture pattern. This technique of adjusting the applied texture pattern result in only a limited number of texture patterns that are not highly repeatable and can drain the can of propellant before the texture material is fully dispensed.
A more refined method of varying the applied texture pattern created by aerosol texturing patterns involved adjusting the size of the outlet opening formed by the actuator structure. Initially, it was discovered that the applied texture pattern could be varied by attaching one of a plurality of straws or tubes to the actuator member, where each tube defined an internal bore of a different diameter. The straws or tubes were sized and dimensioned to obtain fine, medium, and coarse texture patterns appropriate for matching a relatively wide range of pre-existing texture patterns. Additional structures such as caps and plates defining a plurality of openings each having a different cross-sectional area could be rotatably attached relative to the actuator member to change the size of the outlet opening. More recently, a class of products has been developed using a resilient member that is deformed to alter the size of the outlet opening and thus the applied texture pattern.
Existing aerosol texturing products are acceptable for many situations, especially by DIY users who do not expect perfect or professional results. Professional users and more demanding DIY users, however, will sometimes forego aerosol texturing products in favor of commercial texture sprayers because of the control provided by commercial texture sprayers.
The need thus exists for improved aerosol texturing systems and methods that can more closely approximate the results obtained by commercial texture sprayers.